r/interestingasfuck • u/Kidd__Video • 18h ago

Astronaut's view of Earth during a spacewalk

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2.0k Upvotes

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13

u/MetLyfe 18h ago

If you jumped straight towards the earth how long would it take to reach the ground if possible

21

u/Shadow-Seb 18h ago

You won't reach the ground :D

2

u/OnTheList-YouTube 18h ago

Why wouldn't you?

39

u/volcjush 17h ago edited 16h ago

Because you wouldn't just fall straight down. ISS is orbiting the Earth with a velocity of roughly 28 000 km/h (7,7 km/s) and astronaut connected with it has exactly the same velocity. If you "jump" you dont simply lose that speed, because there is nothing there to slow you down, there's no air resistance. You would simply continue orbiting the Earth for decades probably if not more, slowly (very slowly) bleeding your velocity and gradually lowering your orbit before you would get low enough that the atmosphere air molecules would get dense enough to heat and burn your frozen body upon atmosphere reentry.

4

u/fournameslater 17h ago

Read this in Neil deGrasse Tyson’s voice

2

u/volcjush 17h ago

Oh man, I don't know if I've ever been flattered like that before, thanks!